Local Music

What do you get if you cross a cowboy singer, a Caribbean percussionist and a classical violinist? Well, if it happens in Virgin, Utah, folklorist and musician Hal Cannon says you get a new kind of Western music. He’s the cowboy singer and 1/3 of 3hattrio. They’ve just released their third album, and Monday, he joins us along with career musician Greg Istock and 19-year-old Eli Wrankle to explain why they say the West was ready for a new genre and how they began creating “desert music.”

The history of Salt Lake City quintet Quiet Oaks is anything but quiet. Four of the band mates played together in a group that broke up after a falling-out with a frontman. Rather than call it quits, they decided to rebuild as Quiet Oaks, refining their take on classic rock into the sound they’ve always aspired to. Now on the western leg of a 42-show tour across America, Quiet Oaks joins us Wednesday to discuss their music and picking up the pieces to become the band they’ve always wanted.

Rolling Stone has called Ogden-based singer-songwriter Sammy Brue an “Americana prodigy.” He started playing music at 10 years old when he got a guitar for Christmas. He cut his teeth on tunes by Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, and in two months he was writing his own songs. Well, Sammy’s 15 now. He’s put out an EP record, gained acclaim at music festivals across the country, and signed a record deal with a Nashville label. He’ll join us Thursday to play some music and talk about his budding career.

  The band Starmy is a rare thing in the Salt Lake City music scene: a band that lasts. They’ve been around for 14 years, suffered the toll of drugs and alcohol, and endured the pressures of adult life. Despite all that, they’ve managed to put out five full-length records of avant-garde indie rock. Guitarist and vocalist Mike Sartain says Starmy's latest album might its last. He and his band will join us Wednesday to play some music and to talk about the challenges of the ever-changing music industry.

We continue our series on local music Wednesday with the National Parks. No, we’re not talking about Zion, Arches, and Bryce Canyon. The National Parks are a Provo-based band whose debut album tilted to the folksy side of indie rock. Their newest release features a beefed-up indie-pop sound inspired by the energy of performing live. The band members say it took a leap of faith to explore new musical ground, leading them to discover what can happen when you pursue your passion without any limits.

A somber vibe echoes through the debut album of indie-folk band Salazar. It's the vibe of "saudade," a Portuguese idea that singer-songwriter Alexander Woods says can't be directly translated. It describes the deep longing you feel for somebody or something that’s going away and might not come back. Woods and the musicians of Salazar join us Thursday as we continue our series on Local Music. We'll talk to them about "saudade," about their music, and about the band of musician-friends known as Dirty Provo.

  Wednesday, we continue our series on local music with the band Great Interstate. It’s the brainchild of 22-year-old singer-songwriter Andrew Goldring, who started Great Interstate as a solo project to help him find his own creative path. Many of the tracks on the band’s debut record, “Inversion Songs,” draw inspiration from the Wasatch Front’s periods of crappy air, when you wonder if the smog will ever lift. But it’s not downer music. Goldring says the album is ultimately a cry of hope for fresh beginnings.

Two years ago, tragedy struck musician Lyndsi Austin and her family when one of her older brothers passed away. Many of the lyrics she wrote for the debut album of her band Big Wild Wings express her sense of loss. She says making music helped her cope with the grief. While Big Wild Wings tackles some heavy subject matter, the trio’s big, airy sound and Austin’s “angst-y angel” vocals have landed them in the local music scene spotlight. The band joins us Tuesday to play some songs and talk about them.

Fictionist’s Stuart Maxfield says it’s strange that music isn’t actually about making music these days. In 2011, the Utah band was a semi-finalist in a Rolling Stone cover contest and was signed by Atlantic Records. But Maxfield says they were still outsiders, and their album languished as the label tried to homogenize their sound. Atlantic has dropped them, but it’s not slowing Fictionist down. They’ve just released a new album, and Thursday, they join us live to play the new music they’re making.

We continue our series on local music on Wednesday with Provo electro-pop duo Mideau. Their debut LP was one of the most buzzed-about albums of 2013. At its core, the band is Provo-based singer-songwriter Libbie Linton and sonic wizard Spencer Harrison, who lives in Washington DC. They digitally bridged the distances between them to create soaring and experimental music inspired by life’s mundane moments. Mideau will join us in-studio, and we’ll review some of the best local releases of the year.